UPDATE 7:30 p.m.
The Mineral County Sheriff's Office has issued a Stage 3 evacuation order for residents along Verde Creek Road 450 due to the Sunrise Fire. This is the time to leave the area immediately and in an orderly fashion. The Red Cross Shelter at the Superior High School will be open if a need exists. People in Sunrise Creek, Quartz Flats, Quartz Creek and Verde Creek are now under an evacuation order. Residents of the Rivulet Area should be on the alert for fire activity.
Fire officials and the Missoula County Sheriff's Office have issued an evacuation warning for residents on Shining Shirt Road and Beaver Creek Road in the North and South Placid Lake area due to the Liberty Fire. This is the time for final preparation and to move people who need extra time to leave the area. A Type 1 Incident Management team has been ordered to oversee this fire, burning east of Arlee on the Flathead Indian Reservation's tribal wilderness area.
Original Post 6 p.m.
Drivers on I-90 west of Missoula should be prepared for thick smoke and poor visibility due to the Sunrise Fire burning near Tarkio. The fire is burning aggressively in the Quartz Creek and Sunrise Creek drainages. Firefighters are relocating resources to safer locations and say to be alert that embers from this fire can travel up to one mile beyond the fire's edge.
The smoke plume from the Liberty Fire burning in the tribal wilderness area east of Arlee is visible from U.S.-93 and Missoula. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire is using aviation resources to keep the fire within the reservation's eastern boundary. It is not threatening any structures at this time.
